The Scripture Readings this week are:
- Isaiah 9:2-7
- Romans 13:8-14
- Luke 1:67-79
The Sermon title is The Christmas Dream: Awakened Hope
Early Thoughts: Once more we enter into Advent, once more we speak of hope. What does it mean to speak of hope being awakened in a world which too often leads us to despair?
Often during Advent I like to find a piece of poetry to go with each week. {Usually I then find pieces that are too long for reading in the service anyway}. As I was looking for something to go with this week I found this one which begins:
What does it take to awaken hope in the world today?
Isaiah talks about people walking in darkness seeing a great light. He talks of a time of renewal and release. Often we read these words on Christmas Eve, I have used them as the basis for a call to worship on that day. The promise Isaiah shares is about the coming of one ho brings hope, peace, justice, and liberation. We begin Advent this year re-hearing the promise of the child who shall be born. That child brings hope.
This week we also hear the song Zechariah sings as his son John is named. Zechariah sings of renewal and transformation. He sings of hope for his people. Like Isaiah, he also uses the image of light shining in the darkness, light that drives away shadows. Maybe part of hope being awakened is that the shadow of despair is being driven away?
Rachael Keefe concludes her poem (I really encourage you to follow the link above and read the whole thing) with these words:
Darkness interrupted by chaotic lights,
disjointed décor from one house to another
boldly proclaims the Light
the Light that shines through all things
in every color, every shape, every rhythm
no matter how chaotic – not
just for December nights,
not just for Christmas this year
or next
These holiday lights – no matter how old,
or how garish – are pleasant, perhaps joyful,
reminders that Hope shines on and on
even when the days are short
and humans hold their weapons
closer than their neighbors
AS we move into Advent this year there is a lot of horrible things happening around the globe. People are being dehumanized. People are starving. Might seems to make right. Violence breaks out in a myriad of forms and locations. Sometimes it seems like one great big nightmare and despair seems like the only option. But I encourage us to look beyond our nightmares to those things we scarcely dare to dream. There we might find hope just waiting to be awakened in our hearts and souls. Look beyond the big stories and try to see the glimmer of Christmas lights, the flicker of a candle flame, shining in the dark places.
Then may we let the hope change us.
The Romans passage calls us to love our neighbours. It also calls up to wake up, to become woke one might say. When hope wakens in our hearts and guides our lives we can be different people. In Advent we light candles every week, we brighten the world one tiny flame at a time. We proclaim that the dawn is near. May the hope that awakens in Advent, the hope for a baby who will call us to live as different people, wake us up. May that hope lead us to be people of hope in a world that too often leads us to despair.
--Gord
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